


Lullabies

by RewriteDestiny



Category: Supernatural
Genre: (not their own baby - the screaming warm baby), 9x06, Angst, Baby, Fluff, M/M, Spn 9x06, also a teensy bit of, heaven can't wait
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-14
Updated: 2013-11-14
Packaged: 2018-01-01 11:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1044060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RewriteDestiny/pseuds/RewriteDestiny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A rewriting of 9x06. Dean races back to the house but finds that there is actually no murderous angel waiting there, just a very worried Castiel with a screaming baby girl in his arms. Dean decides to help out with the babysitting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lullabies

**Author's Note:**

> So, 9x06 made me and broke me in equal measure. Generally, I'm not a broody person but whenever one of our boys is pictured with a baby my uterus yells 'IT IS TIME, I AM READY!' So, to placate my uterus I wrote a teensy fic about Cas and Dean looking after that gorgeous baby. 
> 
> It's 3.30am, this is unbeta-ed and I am ill so all mistakes are entirely my own! 
> 
> I hope you're all having a great day :)

The door burst open. 

Castiel glanced hastily upwards from his position on the couch, ready to jump up and defend the baby. He felt himself relax a bit when he realized that it was Dean. 

“Cas, Cas, are you okay?” asked Dean, storming over to him with a look of concern on his face. 

Wait, did Dean know about the baby? 

“No, I am not! I think she is sick,” said Castiel, trying to keep a firm grip on the wriggling, screaming pink bundle in his arms. He was very concerned about the child. Norah had entrusted him with her, he had to make sure that she was okay. 

Dean was just staring at him with his eyebrows furrowed and his gun in one hand. Castiel thought that meant he was perplexed about something. The hunter never had been very easy to read. In any case, he did not seem to be understanding the urgency of the situation. 

“Dean, she is very warm. I think we should take her to the hospital!” insisted Castiel, feeling a tiny bubble of panic rise up inside him. This was a feeling he had been getting a lot since he fell, and he hated it every single time. 

“Cas ... hold up ... I thought there was someone ...” Dean glanced around the living room, his eyes wary, “there’s no one here?” 

Castiel could not quite deduce whether that was a question or not. The emerald green eyes of the other man seemed to be looking at him expectantly so he quickly answered;  
“There is only Tanya and I.” 

“You and ... Tanya?” asked Dean, staring down at the screaming infant in disbelief. 

“Yes, and I am concerned that she is very sick.” 

Dean did not seem to understand the urgency of the situation. The baby was still wailing and Castiel was still trying to rock her, as he had seen many human parents do. 

“I thought someone was coming for you ...’ said Dean, his voice filled with confusion, ‘wait, you had a date!” 

Castiel felt what he thought was embarrassment flame up in the pit of his stomach. Embarrassment was even worse than panic. Sometimes he still got the feeling of embarrassment mixed up with excitement but right now, as the skin of his neck grew hot and prickly, he sensed that it was definitely not excitement. It did not feel good at all. 

“Norah had a date. I am ... babysitting,” said Castiel, gesturing Tanya outwards a little. 

Cas was sure that Dean was going to laugh. This would be one of those things that he would be mocked about for years to come, and that Dean would bring up whenever he did something ridiculous. It would be like the Sam no-my-mother-wants-to-date-you-not-me story that Dean recounted joyously whenever an older woman even glanced towards his little brother. He looked up at Dean, expecting the jokes to start coming thick and fast but Dean didn’t say a word. 

His face had softened slightly into an expression that Castiel did not recognise. 

“Dates are overrated anyway,” Dean finally said, the corners of his mouth tugging into a slight smile, “All that getting-to-know-you bullshit. Nah, you’re much better off staying in with a four-pack ... for the love of god will you please do something with the kid!” 

Tanya was still screaming at the top of her lungs and Castiel suddenly remembered the emergency. 

“She is very hot, I think she’s sick!” said Cas, staring down at the baby with concern filling up his chest. 

Dean seemed to wrestle with himself for a moment before he finally tucked his gun away and held his hand out to touch Tanya’s forehead. Cas glanced up at him, hoping that he would know what to do. 

“I think she’s fine,” said Dean, shaking his head, “a slight fever but that’s probably from all the damn screaming.” 

Castiel felt relief flood through him. Relief was a good feeling. 

“It stopped earlier but now it has begun again. In heaven, infants were far quieter ... and less messy,” said Castiel, thinking back to his sister’s youngest child – well, not really a child so much as a multidimensional wavelength. That child did not scream once. 

Dean was just staring at him now. He seemed as if he was about to turn around and leave. That was all the hunter seemed to do nowadays, abandon Castiel to fend for himself in a situation that he couldn’t quite grasp. Suddenly, a very human emotion seized him and he wanted to cry out ‘please stay, Dean, please help me. I have no idea what I’m doing.’ Though Castiel would never say that. He did what needed to be done. If Dean had to turn around and walk away then he would just have to accept that. 

“Give her to me,” sighed Dean, shrugging off his jacket and throwing it over an armchair. 

That definitely surprised Castiel. 

“You do not have to ...” 

“Just give me the damn kid, Cas,” said Dean, looking at him exasperatedly, his hands held out in front of him. 

Castiel gathered up the screaming bundle and passed her over to Dean. The hunter manoeuvred her into the crook of his elbow. 

“Look, ‘kay, you gotta support the head,” said Dean, settling the baby girl’s head into his arm but also bringing his other hand around so that it was tucked beneath Tanya’s head, “then you support the rest of the body, right?” 

Castiel found himself watching intently. He was fascinated. Not just with the ritual of holding a baby but also with Dean’s hands. He had seen those hands stab, punch and behead things, yet right now they were so gentle, clasped around the body of a tiny baby human. A peculiar feeling griped in Castiel’s stomach. It had occurred several times before, when Dean smiled at him or complimented him, but the ex-angel still found that he was unsure of what it was. It was a fluttering sensation, almost like ... butterflies. 

Dean was walking around the room in soft, slow movements. He was rocking the bundle a lot more smoothly than Castiel had, and the ex-angel was sure that Dean was muttering something under his breath. 

Bit by bit, the screaming began to fade into tired whimpers. Castiel was still watching Dean move around the room as he began to make out what the hunter was saying.

“Slumber sweetly, my dear, for the angels are near, to watch over you for the silent night through ...” 

Eventually, the baby was silent completely and Dean eased himself down onto the sofa beside Castiel, shifting the tiny body so that she was laid in the space where his legs met. Her pink blankets were wrapped around her and she was breathing steadily as both men watched over her. 

“Was that a lullaby?” asked Castiel, keeping his voice low. He was curious. Dean liked rock songs; he liked to sing along to rock songs. Dean had never said anything about lullabies. 

The hunter shrugged his shoulders awkwardly and ducked his head down so that the ex-angel could not meet his eyes. They sat in silence for a moment as Castiel wondered if he had said something wrong. 

“My Mom used to sing it to me,” said Dean, his voice quiet and still refusing to meet Castiel’s eyes, “it’s the only one I know. It would be about damn angels, wouldn’t it?!” 

“It was beautiful,” said Cas, sincerely. It had been beautiful. Dean’s voice had sounded beautiful. “My attempts earlier proved to be a little elusive.” 

Dean chuckled at that and brought his face up to finally meet Castiel’s eyes, “you sang?!” 

“Yes,” said Cas, remembering his failed attempts, “but I only know Enochian lullabies and I did not think she would appreciate that.” 

“Wait, you guys have kids?” asked Dean, curiously, his face turned towards the ex-angel’s in a peculiar expression. 

“Of course, we have to continue our race.” 

“But aren’t you guys immortal?” 

“I am human now, so I shall live a human’s lifespan -“ Dean winced at that but Castiel chose not to draw attention to it, - “but though the angels live for millennia, we still die. You have seen us die. We have to continue somehow.” 

“Yeah, I guess you do,” said Dean, glancing back down at the baby. 

“Your technique worked very well,” observed Castiel, thinking about how long Tanya had been screaming for. 

“Well ... I got in some practice back when ... when I was living a normal life,” said Dean. His voice was deep and gruff and, though Castiel definitely needed some practice in recognising the nuances of human emotion, he thought he saw sadness in Dean’s face. 

They sat in silence for a long time after that, crushed beneath the weight of things that they were not saying. Castiel felt those butterflies in his stomach and wanted to explain them to Dean, but there was an instinct inside him that said he should probably keep it to himself. The warmth of the hunter’s strong body next to him on the sofa was an overwhelming comfort. 

“It is nice to not be alone for once,” said Castiel, feeling warmth wash over him. 

Dean’s head snapped upwards; he looked like he had just been punched in the face. What? What had Castiel said? It was meant to be a nice thing. 

“Cas, man - ” sighed Dean, his voice gruff as he raked his hands through his hair, “I am so fucking sorry for leaving you, I just ...” 

“No, it is fine,” said Castiel, thinking that he had not felt fine at all but not wanting to ruin this moment. 

“No, it’s not! Look, there’s something I should tell you. Something about Sam –“ 

At that moment Tanya stirred in her sleep and let out a low-pitched grumble. 

“Shhh, I’m sorry,” said Dean, quickly turning back to the baby in his lap and rocking her gently in his legs, “shhhhh.” 

The baby fell asleep again immediately. There was a billowing silence in the room. 

“You would have made a great father,” observed Castiel, looking down at the sleeping baby and wondering whether that was one of the things that he was not supposed to say. 

When he finally looked back up, Dean’s eyes were wide. His face was filled with sadness but then, slowly, he began to inch forwards. Castiel was unsure about what was happening. The chiselled features were so close now that Cas could count the freckles on Dean’s nose. He could see the soft lips of the hunter nearing his and the ex-angel suddenly felt the urge kiss them, to taste them. Dean’s large green eyes looked slightly unsure, then, and he paused for a moment. They sat suspended in time for a few seconds more and then Cas felt himself moving forwards to close the gap himself. Suddenly, they were kissing. Soft lips pressed against his, igniting a warmth that spread all the way through his body. One of Dean’s hands gently ghosted over Castiel’s cheek as their mouths moved together. Cas revelled in the taste of Dean, with the flavours of coffee and hazelnut dancing over his tongue. It was completely intoxicating and the ex-angel was struck with the feeling that this had been waiting to happen for a very long time. This was worth being human for. He wanted Dean to be this close to him forever.

Then they broke apart, conscious of the baby on Dean’s lap and the things unsaid between them. Castiel could see Dean slipping from him again. His face was hardening, he was pulling his body away, the walls were already going back up and Castiel knew that he would be all alone again by the end of the night. 

Then, so softly that Castiel could almost not hear, he heard Dean murmur “you would have made a great father too.”


End file.
